Walt wrote: "Burgy told me that he once was a libertarian. He still is
insofar as I
can see."
I did? I do not remember that. I may have said that I gave the
Libertarian outlook a fair study at one time. I am, BTW, a registered
Democrat.
"Funny how we all exalt a given outlook implying something negative about
the opposition. Since a conservative is the opposite of a liberal, we
should describe what a conservative thinks as: ... >>
I have clipped those line items I do associate with conservatives. Maybe
I'm wrong on some of them.
Free speech. Most conservatives, I think, would not extend the 1st
amendment as far as most liberals. One example -- the "Cannot burn the
American flag amendment" which rears its ugly head every year in
Congress. The cries of anguish from the right were indeed loud when
SCOTUS ruled on that one a few years ago. Not from the left.
Government control of religion. I think all the pressure in favor of the
state prescribing mandatory prayer in school comes from the right --
primarily from the RR.
In favour of any law that inserts a grim faced man in a blue suit with a
large gun into a doctor's office. Again, in favor of a Federal or state
law that prescribes what a doctor and patient relationship can consider,
with criminal penalties for nonconformance. The pro-life folks come from
the right, and they want a LAW.
I have some testimony on my web site given by six ladies who have been
caught up in this issue. If the RR had had its way, those testimonies
might well have not been given, for the ladies in question would be dead
or severely disabled.
People of color have lesser standing. Not all conservatives, of course.
But there is little doubt that the % of conservatives who hold this
position is substantially larger than the % of liberals. One hopes that
the % is small on both sides.
Women have lesser standing. Same comment as above, only that the gap is
wider.
People with different sexual preferences have lesser standing. Same
comment as the above, except that the gap is even wider.
See diversity as a "bad thing." Same comment, and the gap is wide here
too.
Show disrespect to those of a different religious persuasion. I have
gotten email from a number of persons after 9/11 -- good folks, whom I
love -- telling me to hate the evil Muslims. All are conservative
Christians.
A Google search I made the other day shows a plethora of Islamic
organizations issuing statement of shock and horror after 9/11 -- but
somehow those statements don't seem to get media attention. Could the
media be too conservative? Boggles the mind.
Show disrespect to those with no religious persuasion. I serve as a sysop
on Compuserve's RELIGION forum. Time after time I observe well-meaning
conservative Christians wander by, find the some of our participants are
non-Christians, and begin to disrespect them. I have never seen a liberal
Christian do this. I have conservative friends who glibly quote "The fool
has said in his heart... " and then, with a smirk, consider the issue
closed. I don't have a single liberal friend who does that.
See Christianity primarily as a prescriptive religion. Yes, I think this
is widely held by the right. Say the right syllables and you are saved.
Get the right baptism. Attend the right church. Follow the right leader.
Of course, some liberals do that too, seeing works "do good things and
you'll make it" as the way to salvation. So I'm not really sure which
side errs the more with this one.
I quoted Boff as writing: "The eternal destiny of human beings will have
nothing to do with how much we ignore the hungry, the thirsty, the naked
and the oppressed. In
the end, we will be judged by none of these things." Walt replied that "A
good conservative has that motto taped to his PC monitor."
Some probably do. Boff is worth reading.
Finally, Walt wrote: "If Flip Benham is Burgy's example of a conservative
Christian, is Spong the example of a liberal Christian?"
I think Flip is an unfortunate example; that most on the right are both
more compassionate and more understanding than him. Spong is an example
of a liberal Christian, rather more farther left than I am (so are Borg &
Bultmann). I have not read much of Spong, however; I plan to study two of
his books this summer, just picked up at a used book sale at Iliff. At
this time I know only that I do not hold the position that he does but I
do not know yet his grounds for holding it.
Thanks for the comments.
John Burgeson (Burgy)
http://www.burgy.50megs.com
(science/theology, quantum mechanics, baseball, ethics,
humor, cars, philosophy and much more)
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